The San Diego County Board of Supervisors voted on Tuesday to fortify and expand sanctuary policies beyond state mandates, aiming to shield illegal aliens from President-elect Donald Trump’s upcoming mass deportation efforts.

Chairwoman Nora Vargas put forward the proposal, claiming that it aligned with state law, citing former Gov. Jerry Brown’s California Assembly Bill 4, which prevents local law enforcement from complying with Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s detainer requests.

‘This policy means that an illegal immigrant who has committed one of these appalling crimes will now walk free on our streets.’

ICE’s detainers request that local authorities hold already detained criminal illegal aliens in their jails for up to 48 hours beyond their scheduled release date to allow ICE agents time to transfer them into federal custody. However, California law bans this cooperation, forcing ICE to expend extra resources to track down and rearrest these individuals once they are back on the streets, which is considerably more costly for the agency and much more dangerous for the arresting officers.

Former Gov. Brown further restricted the collaboration between local authorities and ICE in 2017 through California Senate Bill 54, which banned the transfer of illegal aliens to federal agents and also prohibited informing ICE about release dates.

Vargas’ policy “ensures that absent a federal warrant, no release will be delayed.”

Ahead of the vote, Vargas warned that some residents and fellow board members were going to share “a lot of misinformation” in opposition to her proposal.

Over 100 San Diego County residents signed up to speak on the policy, and the county received more than 500 electronic comments concerning it.

Vargas’ policy read, “Today’s actions will adopt a resolution and Board Policy L-2 to affirm the County shall not provide assistance or cooperation to ICE in its civil immigration enforcement efforts, including by giving ICE agents access to individuals or allowing them to use County facilities for investigative interviews or other purposes, expending County time or resources responding to ICE inquiries or communicating with ICE regarding individuals’ incarceration status or release dates, or otherwise participating in any civil immigration enforcement activities.”

It added, “The proposed policy does not limit or prohibit giving assistance with the investigative activities of any local, state, or federal law enforcement agency relating to suspected violations of criminal laws.”

The proposed policy passed in a 3-1 vote on Tuesday.

Supervisor Jim Desmond held the only dissenting opinion. He called Vargas’ policy “radical,” “reckless,” and “a direct betrayal of the people we are sworn to protect.”

“Today’s outrageous decision to turn San Diego County into a ‘Super’ Sanctuary County is an affront to every law-abiding citizen who values safety and justice,” he wrote in an emailed press release.

“Consider this: Under this policy, law enforcement is prohibited from notifying ICE about individuals, in custody, who have committed violent and heinous crimes, including rape and stalking, assault and battery, burglary, child abuse, and more,” Desmond explained.

He added, “Let me be crystal clear — this policy means that an illegal immigrant who has committed one of these appalling crimes will now walk free on our streets, once they serve their jail sentence, protected by county policies, with no coordination with ICE.”

Following the board’s vote, the San Diego County Sheriff’s Office issued a statement declining to enforce the new policy.

Sheriff Kelly A. Martinez wrote, “As the Sheriff of San Diego County, my number one priority is protecting the safety and well-being of all residents of our diverse region. While protecting the rights of undocumented immigrants is crucial, it is equally important to ensure that victims of crimes are not overlooked or neglected in the process. Victims include undocumented individuals — these vulnerable individuals express to me that their legal status is used as a weapon against them when offenders from their community victimize them.”

The sheriff’s office contended that the board of supervisors does not set its policy.

The department stated, “The sheriff, as an independently elected official, sets the policy for the Sheriff’s Office. California law prohibits the Board of Supervisors from interfering with the independent, constitutionally and statutorily designated investigative functions of the sheriff, and is clear that the sheriff has the sole and exclusive authority to operate the county jails.”

“The Sheriff’s Office will not change its practices based on the board resolution and policy that was passed at today’s meeting,” it declared.

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